JOE TERRANA WINS MINT 400

Terrana wins Mint 400: 22-year-old Joe Terrana has been making a name for himself as one of UTV racing’s top up and coming talents over the past few seasons. On Friday afternoon, he cemented that status with the biggest win of his career—the O’Reilly Auto Parts Limited Race at the 2023 BFGoodrich Tires Mint 400—after going up against, and taking down, the biggest names in the sport from the 53^rd overall starting spot.

 

“This is my hometown, Las Vegas, so this is my favorite race of the year,” said the driver of the #T898 Can-Am. “Last year was my first time doing it, and I had a blast last year, so we came back to do it again. I’m so excited. Looking up to all these big-name guys out here, coming out here and putting a beating on them is so exciting and fun.”

More than 250 racers were on the entry list for Friday’s action, led by the Class 5 cars that kicked off the racing at 8AM and bookended with the Gambler 500/HooptieX entries that were last to get going. From numerous UTV classes to the iconic Class 11 and even vintage and military vehicles, the O’Reilly Auto Parts Limited Race has always been a collection of anything that people want to race in the desert—if you can build it, the Mint 400 has a class for it.

Not only was Terrana one of the last starters to roll off in the UTV Pro Turbo class, but Pro Turbo was also the fourth UTV class to hit the track. Sizable UTV PR-100 and Pro Open entries, plus a UTV Pro Big Engine entry from Travis Zollinger, all started their races first. But having dozens of cars in front of him didn’t deter Terrana one bit, as the Las Vegas native quickly pushed his way into the lead on corrected time.

 

For much of the race, Terrana’s top challenger was Mitch Guthrie Jr., who returned to the Mint 400 fresh off an appearance in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge last week. Unfortunately for Guthrie, last-lap issues knocked him back from contention for the overall win, although he would still take a decisive victory in the UTV Pro Open class.

Instead, it was former UTV World Champion Ryan Piplic who would cross the finish line in physical first place to lead the UTV PR-100 class, and Terrana’s UTV Pro Turbo rival Bruce Binnquist who would get there next before Terrana would make it to the finish. When all was said and done and corrected times were factored in, the overall podium was separated by just over three minutes; Terrana would take the class and overall wins by just 73 seconds over Binnquist after completing four laps and nearly 400 miles of racing.

YOUTH UTVS’ MINI MINT 400

 

George Llamosas held off a hard-fought challenge from Mason Cotter to take the Youth 1000 race win in Saturday’s BFGoodrich Tires Mint 400 Youth Races, taking the win at the finish line by just 4.948 seconds after five laps of racing. It was the closest margin of victory on a day where the next generation of top off-road stars showed their stuff, and a day where many young racers scored their first-ever Mint 400 wins and podiums.

 

Each year, dozens of aspiring young off-road racers take to their own “Mini Mint 400” course to do battle in the shadows of the Unlimited teams that they someday hope to join. This year’s event featured four different races, with 25-minute timed races for the smaller classes and five laps of their own course for the Youth 1000 and 570 races.

 

All but the Youth 1000 race featured multiple classes sharing the course; the Youth 570 and 570 Open classes ran together, as did Youth 250 and 200, and all three 170 variants—Open, Production, and T170. Youth 170 Open winner Declan Shields successfully defended his win in last year’s race with more than 30 seconds in hand over Nixon Nagel, but every other margin of victory was less than 20 seconds.

 

Unofficial Youth 1000 results:

1. #Y1088 George Llamosas/Pol, 5 laps, 23:51.855
2. #Y1610 Mason Cotter/Pol, 23:56.803
3. #Y1616 Cruz Worley/Pol, 24:26.185

 

Unofficial Youth 570 results: 1.          #Y531 Evan Atkins/Pol, 5 laps, 30:23.452 2.          #Y511 Hugh Tarrant/Pol, 30:40.746 3.          #Y512 Ella Warner/Pol, 31:08.581   Unofficial Youth 570 Open results: 1.          #Y544 Brody Berhorst/Pol, 5 laps, 31:00.739 2.          #O599 Lake Adler/Pol, 31:08.700 3.          #O549 Jaxson Jauregui/Pol, 32:19.148

Unofficial Youth 250 results:

1. #Y237 Jacob Williamson/Pol, 10 laps, 26:53.769
2. #Y211 Trevor Lee/Pol, 27:07.238
3. #Y297 Ian Torfi/Pol, 9 laps

 

Unofficial Youth 170 Open results:

1. #O158 Declan Shields/Pol, 9 laps, 27:19.909
2. #O99 Nixon Nagel/Pol, 27:51.273
3. #O14 Korbin Grinolds/Pol, 27:53.842

More information on the 2023 BFGoodrich Tires Mint 400 for racers and spectators is available at TheMint400.com, or follow the event on Facebook and Instagram.